Chinese PM vows to cool economy
China will take “forceful measures” to tackle an “overheating” economy, Wen Jiabao, prime minister, said on Wednesday in the strongest sign yet that Beijing is to push hard to curb the country’s scorching economic growth.
His address to China’s cabinet is the third top-level speech in the past fortnight, including a rare statement on the economy by Hu Jintao, president, promising new tightening initiatives.
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The speech overrides equivocal pronouncements by government officials, including a statement by the statistics bureau that the expansion of the economy by nearly 11 per cent in the first half of the year was “reasonable”.
In his speech, according to excerpts on a government website, Mr Wen said: “Forceful measures must be taken to help resolve the striking contradictions that exist to prevent rapid economic growth from becoming overheated.”
Mr Wen listed familiar problem areas to be addressed, including tightening control of land, reining in investment and credit growth and reducing expansion of heavily polluting industries.
His high-profile outline of the task, however, seemed aimed at both reassuring Washington and Brussels that the government was serious about tackling the economic imbalances and warning localities in China to temper investment.
Mr Wen also said the government should “improve the formation mechanism of the renminbi’s exchange rate in order to gradually increase [its] flexibility”, a pledge that offers no indication of new policy directives on the controversial topic.
■Two US senators said they would demand a vote on legislation for steep tariffs on Chinese exports unless Beijing significantly raised the value of its currency by September 30. Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, and Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, said they delivered the message to Hank Paulson, Treasury secretary.
温家宝：将“有力”解决中国经济过热
中国国务院总理温家宝昨天表示，中国政府将采取“有力措施”，解决“经济过热”问题。这是中国政府迄今发出的最强信号，表明它将坚决抑制中国经济增长过热的问题。
温家宝在国务院会议上的讲话，是过去两周里中国政府最高层的第三次讲话，国家主席胡锦涛也罕见地发表了有关经济工作的讲话，承诺要采取新的紧缩措施。
温家宝的讲话推翻了某些政府官员此前的含糊说法，其中包括国家统计局的一份声明，称中国经济今年上半年增长近11%是“合理的”。
据某政府网站刊登的讲话节选称，温家宝在讲话中表示：“必须采取有力措施，解决存在的突出矛盾和问题，防止经济增长由偏快转为过热。”
过去一年里，中国出口不断扩大，投资继续保持强劲，推动了中国的经济增长。长期以来，政府一直承诺要控制这两个领域的增长。
中国政府希望利用快速经济增长来创造就业，但越来越担忧产出日益增大过程中的经济结构不平衡，以及不断膨胀的国际收支盈余导致的与贸易伙伴间的政治问题。
温家宝列出了有待解决的常见问题领域，包括加强土地调控和管理、抑制投资和信贷增长，以及控制高污染工业发展。
然而，温家宝高姿态地阐明任务，似乎具有双重目标，即一方面向美国和欧盟保证，中国政府对于处理经济失衡的态度是认真的，另一方面是在警告中国地方政府，要控制投资。
本月，国家统计局表示，新开工项目是新一轮投资的重要推动力，很有可能使今年下半年的经济增速不会有多大放缓。中国各地方政府争相发展各自的区域，很多新开工项目得到地方政府的支持。
地方政府一直严重依靠出售和开发土地来筹措资金，特别是当前中央政府要求它们提供更多服务，同时又不赋予它们额外征税的权力。
